Magandang tanghali po! - 9 new reviews
in this weeks newsletter. Quite a mix with films-to-DVD by Angelopoulos, Rohmer,
Linklater, Shyamalan, Bertolucci etc. Lots of new calendar listings as we wind
down the year... DVD of the Year - 2006 selections and consensus posted the week
of Christmas to New Years!

Criterion's NEW LABEL REVEALED:
"Eclipse presents a selection of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films in
simple, affordable editions. Each series is a brief cinematheque retrospective
for the adventurous home viewer." We want those films to be more readily
available, and that’s why we’re creating Eclipse. "
"Each month we’ll present a short series, usually three to five films, focusing
on a particular director or theme. There will be no supplements and the master
materials will be the best we can find, but they won’t be full Criterion
restorations. Retail pricing for each set will average under $15 per disc, and
we are examining the logistics of making the sets available at an even more
favorable rate on a subscriber or club basis. The goal here is to make these
films available, to make sure that Criterion’s own work style doesn’t contribute
to the continuing unavailability of these films. Once our producers and
restoration crew get started on a Criterion edition, the project takes on a life
of its own. Months later, with a little luck, we’ll have something really
special to show for it, but at that rate we can’t make a dent in the number of
important unreleased films that we’d like people to be able to see." (from the
Criterion blog)

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Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Film
Collection - Four films from the
on-again/off-again celebrated couple of the
tabloids of days gone by. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(1966) is the star with also-rans The V.I.P.s
(1963), The Sandpiper (1965) and The Comedians
(1967) giving support. DVD Release Date:
December 5th, 2006

A Scanner Darkly - Filmed in
live-action, and then animated using the same
critically acclaimed process that Linklater used
in his previous film, "Waking Life." A Scanner
Darkly is closely adapted from a novel by Philip
K Dick – in whose work the daily experience of
future life is frequently exposed as a
strategically constructed tissue of mollifying
deception – ‘Scanner’ is set ‘seven years from
now’ in a Los Angeles where a quarter of the
population is dependent on the powerful and
ultimately lethal mind-bender 'Substance D'.
DVD Release Date: December 19th, 2006

Lady in the Water - Refusing the lure of
Hollywood, Shyamalan is a family man whose craft
is deeply informed by his rejection of the big
studio draw. All of his films are set in his
hometown of Philadelphia and indeed, the
filmmaker refuses to shoot more than a
twenty-minute drive from his family. If
anything, Lady in the Water can be read as the
manifestation of Shyamalan’s fears of losing his
family to his career. For those who like to sit
in the theater and be mindlessly entertained, or
those who feel like they are above that and try
to guess what will happen next, you will be
sorely disappointed in this film. This is a
contemplative film, one that asks you to look
deeper and consider the implications of what is
on-screen. It was screening at Shopping Malls
nationwide, but this is an art-house work
through and through. DVD Release Date:
December 19th, 2006

La Commare Secca - The brutalized corpse
of a Roman prostitute is found along the banks
of the Tiber River. The police round up a
handful of possible suspects and interrogate
them, one by one, each account bringing them
closer to the killer. In this, his stunning
debut feature—based on a story by Pier Paolo
Pasolini—Bernardo Bertolucci utilizes a series
of interconnected flashbacks to explore the
nature of truth and the reliability of
narrative.

Eric Rohmer: The Early Works - Eric
Rohmer blazed a trail for young filmmakers in
France during the late 50s/early 60s. This
collection of three of the French New Wave
forefather’s early films, includes Le Signe du
lion (1959), Le Boulangère de Monceau (1963) and
Le Carrière de Suzanne (1963). DVD Release
Date: Dec 4th, 2006

Eternity and a Day - Eternity And A Day
follows the final days of Alexandre (Bruno Ganz),
a celebrated Greek author as he prepares to
leave his seaside home for what he feels is the
last time. While preparing to depart, he finds a
letter from his long-dead wife, Anna (Isabelle
Renauld), who wrote about a memorable summer day
they spent over thirty years ago. From that
point, Alexandre embarks on a metaphysical
journey through his past and present with the
help of a young street urchin boy that crosses
his path. Realizing that after spending his
entire life chasing after the words of poems and
novels, Alexandre wants one final chance to
capture the lost precious moments of the true
happiness that he know realizes, even if only
for one day.

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 2 - Warner
Oland reprizes his role... For Chan fans it is a
no-brainer, but even for those yet to discover
the enjoyment of the humble Asian detective can
be fun and rewarding. Vol. 2 contains Charlie
Chan at the Circus (1936), Charlie Chan at the
Race Track (1936), Charlie Chan at the Opera
(1936) and Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937).
DVD Release Date: December 5th, 2006

A Tout de Suite - A school girl falls
for a charming young man. After news about a
botched bank robbery in which a guard is killed,
she learns that her boyfriend was one of the
robbers. She decides to hide him and his friends
and then they all sneak out of the country.
After hiding out and spending all the money,
tempers rise and the group splits up. This
forces the girl to work her own way back home
and deal with her actions and her separation
from her boyfriend. DVD Release Date:
December 12th, 2006

My Geisha - Although hampered by a
transparent plot, a lean and implausible
one-joke premise and a tendency to fluctuate
uneasily between comedy and drama, the picture
has been richly and elaborately produced on
location in Japan, cast with perception and a
sharp eye for marquee juxtaposition. DVD
Release Date: December 12th, 2006